Portable pivoted tube bender



May 31, 1955 H. P. SAFRANSKI PORTABLE PIVOTED TUBE BENDER Filed March 16, 1953 INVENTOR. fi'czfiana/za,

United States Patent 2,709,382 PORTABLE PIVOTED TUBE BENDER Henry P. Safranski, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Powers Regulator Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application March 16, 1953, Serial No. 342,360 1 Claim. (CI. 81-15) The invention relates to a portable tool for use by artisans such as plumbers, electricians and machinists and has reference more particularly to a portable tool for use in bending thin walled tubing of copper, aluminum, plastic or similar materials.

In using thin walled copper tubing on location, that is, on the job, as for example, in the installation of temperature controls, where the tubing is employed for connecting certain controls to each other, or to other elements of the apparatus, the workman is presented with the difficult problem of making small bends in the tubing at the exact locations specified and of the proper angle without collapsing the thin walls of the tubing. For this particular purpose bending tools have been provided. In use the tool is applied to and caused to grip the tubing which is then bent over a grooved wheel provided by the tool and although such tools have been useful, they leave much to be desired as regards a satisfactory tube bending tool. Accordingly, the invention has for its object to provide a satisfactory and highly efiicient tool for use in bending thin walled tubing which will be simple in construction, economical to manufacture, embodying a minimum number of parts, and which will be relatively simple in use, requiring only one hand of the workman for handling and manipulating the tool.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a portable tube bending tool comprising pivoted members capable of movement relative to one another, and wherein one member is fixed to a grooved wheel with the other member being eccentrically pivoted to said wheel.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a tube bending tool that can be easily applied to tubing at the exact location desired for bending the same, and wherein the tool can be manipulated by one hand to grip the tubing between a grooved wheel and a handle member eccentrically pivoted thereto.

Another object is to provide a tool as described which will be streamlined in design so that it can be readily inserted in and just as easily removed from the workmans carrying pocket, and wherein most of the weight of the tool is concentrated at one end, thus providing a well balanced article for the most efficient handling during use.

With these and various other objects in view, the invention may consist of certain novel features of construction and operation as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specification, drawings and claim appended hereto.

In the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention and wherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts- Figure 1 is an elevational view of the tool of the invention showing the same in operative relation with a section of tubing which has been bent around the grooved wheel of the tool;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the tool of the invention showing the pivoted handle members thereof in closed relation;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view looking toward the left, Figure 2, with the parts in closed position as shown in said figure;

Figure 4 is an elevational view of the opposite side of the tool from that as shown in Figures 1 and 2; and

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along line 55 of Figure 1, illustrating the manner of pivoting one of the handle members to the grooved wheel.

Referring to the drawings, the tool selected for illustrating the present invention essentially consists of handle members 10 and 12, a grooved wheel 14, and a pivot screw 16. The parts are operatively associated with each other by the pivot screw so that the handle members are relatively movable, with one handle member having the grooved wheel 14 fixed thereto and the other handle member providing an end flange 13 which coacts with the grooved wheel in gripping and holding the tubing to be bent, such as 20, Figure l.

The handle member 10 is made from metal stock approximately one inch in width and one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The member is flat throughout its length and the side edges thereof are parallel. The grooved Wheel 14 is fixedly secured to one end of handle member 10. Structure for uniting the parts may comprise a n'vet such as 22 which extends through aligned openings in the handle member and wheel, the rivet having enlarged heads at respective ends. In the illustrated embodiment the rivet 22 extends through a center opening in the grooved wheel. Centering of the rivet in the wheel is not absolutely essential as long as the handle member is substantially centered With'respect to the grooved wheel and is fixedly secured thereto to prevent any relative movement between the parts. Although rivet 22 adequately performs this functionof non-rotatively uniting the handle member 10 to the grooved wheel, it is desired to additionally pin the handle member to the wheel as at 24. The handle member 12 is likewise formed from metal stock and it is preferred that the width of the member 12 and the thickness thereof be substantially the same as that of handle member 10. Although the side edges of member 12 are parallel throughout, the member is not flat through out since as a result of the diagonal section 26 the por tion 28 provides a concavity on the inside surface of the member for receiving the grooved Wheel 14. On the exterior surface of the handle member the portion 28 is convex. The pivot screw 16 is fixedly secured to the grooved wheel by any suitable means, such as a press fit in an opening in the grooved wheel, and said pivot screw provides an axis for eccentrically pivoting the member 12 to said grooved wheel. It will be noted that the pivot screw 16 is located below the center of the grooved wheel, that is, on the side opposite the flange 18, and is laterally displaced to a slight extent, all as best shown in Figures 4 and 5. The manner in which the handle member 12 is pivoted to the grooved wheel and the eccentric location thereof are important since the eccentricity produces separation of the Wheel with respect to flange 18 when the handle members are moved in an opening direction, and the extent of the eccentricity is determinative of the degree of separation for any particular opening movement of the handle members.

The lateral displacement of the pivot screw 16 is such that the grooved wheel is located slightly to the left, Figure 2, of the top flange 18 when the handle members are closed. This structural relation of the parts is an important feature of the present tube bending tool since as a result the left side of the grooved wheel,

Figure 2, is rendered accessible to the workman and it is relatively easy to bend the tubing over this section of the wheel. Also as a result of the lateral displacement of the pivot screw 16 the periphery of the grooved wheel is caused to contact the top flange 18 when the handle members are closed to the extent as shown in Figure- 2. It will be noted that the handle members do not completely overlap. As a result of this partial separation of the handle members it is relatively easy for the workman using one hand to effect any degree of opening of the handle members. For example, the handle members can be opened to an extent somewhat in excess of that shown in Figure 1, after which tubing to be bent can be inserted between the grooved wheel and the top flange, or the tool can be associated with the tubing to effect the same relation. Upon closing the handle members, the tubing is gripped between the grooved wheel and the top flange and with the tubing thus held and gripped by the tool, the operator is free to make a bend in the tubing to any angle desired up to the limit of the tool, which is approximately one hundred and ten degrees.

As best shown in Figures 3 and 5, the wheel .14 is provided with a groove such as 39, which extends com pletely around the periphery thereof. The groove should be of sutficient size for receiving the particular diameter tubing for which the tool was designed. Accordingly, the size of the groove may vary in conformity with wheels of different diameters. For one-fourth inch copper tubing, a wheel two inches in diameter having a one-fourth inch groove has been found entirely satisfactory for producing small bends in such tubing without collapsing the walls thereof. Other tools may be constructed with a larger wheel should it be desired to produce bends of larger radii.

The invention provides a tool for bending tubing which is relatively streamlined in design and simple as regards manipulation, although the tool is highly efficient in use and can be easily carried in the pocket of a workman. The handle members are so pivotally connected that they do not completely overlap in closed position, see Figure 2. Complete overlapping is prevented by contact of the grooved wheel 14 with the top flange 18. As a result the workman can manipulate the. tool with one hand, leaving his other hand free to effect bending of the tubing.

The invention is not to be limited to or by details of construction of the particular embodiment thereof illustrated by the drawings, as various other forms of the device will of course be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claim.

What is claimed is:

In a tool for bending small diameter tubing, a pair of elongated handle members each having a handle portion at one end and an operating portion at the opposite end, said operating portions including a Wheel disposed between the handle members, said wheel having a pcripheral groove therein of a size to substantially conform to the diameter of the tubing to be bent by the wheel, one handle member being fixedly secured to one side of the wheel centrally thereof and with the wheel projecting beyond the end of the operating portion of said handle member, a pivot pin securing the other handle member to the opposite side of the wheel at an oil-center location disposed toward the handle portion of the members, and a top fiange portion provided by said other handle member and overhanging the periphery of the wheel, whereby pivotal movement of said handle portions to and from open and closed positions will move the grooved wheel bodily to and from the top flange portion to vary the spaced relation of the parts, said top flange portion being disposed in such closed proximity to the periphery of the wheel as to contact the periphery when the said handle portions are moved to a closed substantially overlapping position.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,247,729 Scribner Nov. 27, 1917 1,267,798 Parnell May 28, 1918 1,852,515 Haddock Apr. 5, 1932 2,263,345 Anderson Nov. 18, 1941 2,485,459 Rackowski Oct. 18, 1949 

